In 1885 Smith was hired a supervisor by Flagler over the concrete construction process in the Ponce de Leon Hotel but by January 1886 the relationship with Flagler came to an end. Smith was an early abolitionist, a founder of the YMCA in the US and the Republican Party in Mass.

Franklin: In the winter of 1882, while in Spain, I decided to build a winter home in St. Augustine after the model which the experience of centuries had proved desirable in semi-tropical countries. An oriental house of wood would be an anachronism; yet there was no stone in Florida. To freight it from the north would be an extravagance. At Vevay, on Lake Geneva, subsequently, the dilemma of material was relieved. In the neighborhood a chateau was in construction...

In the following December (December 1, 1883) with a Boston mason, experiments were made and the first concrete blocks of coquina sand and Portland cement were cast in St. Augustine for the Villa Zorayda. They are preserved as valuable relics. Then the first course around the lines of the dwelling here in depicted was laid in planks 10 inches high, and filled with the mixture. In two days a range of handsome smooth stone was revealed. It was followed by another immediately, and those layers hardened sufficiently to allow the raising of the walls a course every other day. The partition walls were cast in with the main walls in even courses also the arches of the court so that the building is practically a monolith. Arches like the first cast, as seen in the illustration were re-enforced and anchored to the walls by round iron rods. The outer walls were cored with an air chamber, bu a board buried in the boxing and then raised, like a boat's center-board, beofre the concrete hardened. In thirty days the walls were as hard as any building stone, and in ayear as defiant of a drill as granite.

The Casa Monica of while illustrations are annexed, stands as a superb illustration of concrete. A facade of above 400 feet, a tower of 100 feet in height,, balconies, arches, cornices, battlements, etc are a homogeneous mass of solid and eloquent stone. It was a new departure in this building to use the sea sand simply dredged from the flats of the harbor, having not more than 1/10 conquina. It was found that the finer the material the more dense and uniform in color the result.

The facade of the Villa Zorayda is nearly in three detached sections. If really separate, the least jar of earthquake or the slightest settlement would be made apparent. For security against either, the sections are bound by imbedded railroad bars through the entire width of the building.

From a Design and Prospectus for a National Gallery of History of Art at Washingtonby Franklin W Smith.